Author:

Talat Rahman(Department of Physics, University of Central Florida)

In the three decades since Haruta’s discovery of the unexpected reactivity of oxide-supported Au
nanoparticles, we have come a long way in the application of nanoparticles as catalysts for a
variety of reactions. Yet, the phenomenon is far from being fully understood as a number of
factors control both the reactivity and the product selectivity of these nanocatalysts: the size, the
shape, the support, the coadsorbates are all found to play a role. In this talk, I will compare and
contrast the local electronic structural and geometric environments for the active sites on Au
nanoparticles, on three different supports: single-layer MoS 2 , single-layer h-BN and the
TiO 2 (110) surface. I will show that while the interface plays a major role in methanol
decomposition [1] and CO oxidation facilitated by Au nanoparticles supported on TiO 2 (110),
the same is not the case when these nanoparticles are supported on single-layer MoS 2 , single-
layer h-BN. In fact, the Au/MoS 2 composite favors the formation of methanol (and higher
alcohols) from syn gas [2]. I will trace these differences to the Au-support interaction, the
ensuing charge transfer, the role of vacancies, and the extent to which the system frontier orbitals
are shifted towards the Fermi level.\\
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[1] S. Hong and T. S. Rahman, JACS, 135, 7629 (2013)\\
[2] T. B. Rawal, D. Le, and T. S. Rahman, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 29 415201 (2017).